Russian Northern and Baltic fleets sortie squadrons to Syria

The Northern Fleet destroyer Admiral Chabanenko accompanied by 3 BDK's the Georgiy Pobedonosets, the Alexander Otrakovsky, and the Kondopoga, and accompanied by the tanker Sergei Osipov and salvage tug Nikolai Chikur will meet up in the Atlantic with the Baltic Fleet frigate Yaroslav Mudry and the tanker Lena. From there they will head to the Syrian port of Tartus where they will meet up with the Black Sea Fleet frigate Smetlivy, the BDK's Tsezar Kunikov, and Nikolai Filchenkov and the rescue tug CB-5. The 5 BDK's loaded with marines will unload in Tartus, but only temporarily as this deployment is part of the much broader Kavkaz-2012 war game. From Tartus the combined fleet will then sail into the Black sea where it will meet up with further elements of the Russian BSF and ostensibly rehearse the *** raping of Georgia

All told this means that today 5 Russian PF destroyers, 1 PF cruiser, 2 NF destroyers (the Kulakov in the Gulf of Aden hunting Somali pirates), 1 Baltic fleet frigate, and 1 Black Sea Fleet frigate are at sea or will be shortly. Plus, pretty much every BDK in the fleet loaded up with marines, and scores of lesser combatants and support ships. This kind of activity hasn't been seen in 20+ years.